Cause & Effect: The CFI Newsletter - No. 4

April 18, 2014

Cause & Effect is the biweekly newsletter of the Center for Inquiry community, covering the wide range of work that you help make possible.

The Main Events

Take Advantage of Special Hotel Rates for Women in Secularism III by April 21!

The Women in Secularism III conference is less than a month away! Taking place May 16-18, 2014, in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., it’s sure to be one of the most inspiring and enlightening events of the year. Have you registered yet? Don’t wait, because special discounted room rates for the Westin Alexandria end Monday, April 21! Register now!

CFI to FDA: Rein in Burzynski

A coalition of physicians, medical officials, scientists, and public policy experts have added their names to a joint letter from CFI urging the Food and Drug Administration to reverse its recent decision to allow cancer patients access to the unapproved drugs provided by Texas-based doctor Stanislaw Burzynski. “The FDA has an obligation to minimize the damage being done by purveyors of false medical treatments who harm others,” the letter states, which also asks the FDA to rescind Burzynski’s status as a medical researcher. You can read more about the Burzynski case from Dr. David Gorski and about the efforts of skeptic activists to raise awareness from Robert Blaskiewicz in their articles in Skeptical Inquirer.

Fighting for Human Rights at the UN

CFI representatives, led by writer and activist Raheel Raza, addressed a wide range of human rights issues facing the global community at the recent 25th regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), held March 3-28 in Geneva. There they delivered statements on the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, the crackdown on free speech in Bangladesh, the spread of harmful religious practices against girls around the world, the brutal human rights record in Saudi Arabia, and violence and discrimination against LGBT persons in Russia and Uganda. All of us are grateful to Raza and CFI’s UN team for this important and meaningful work.

Register Now for the Skeptic’s Toolbox!

Sharpen your critical thinking skills with the invaluable workshops at the 2014 Skeptic’s Toolbox, August 7-10 in Eugene, Oregon! This year’s event is centered on using model cases to better deal with dubious claims and features hands-on training with experts like Ray Hyman, James Alcock, Harriet Hall, Lindsay Beyerstein, and Loren Pankratz. Registration has just opened, so you can sign up now!

CFI–Los Angeles had a full house for Heather Knutson, assistant professor at Caltech and the world’s first exoplanetary meteorologist, and one of Popular Science magazine’s Brilliant Ten Young Scientists in the country. Knutson spoke about how she and her colleagues use the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes to find and determine characteristics of some 4,000 planets already discovered in the galaxy. Awe was shared by all. Check out some photos of the event here.

Also, at CFI–L.A.’s Steve Allen Theater on Saturday, none other than Robert Redford announced a Fossil Fuel Divestment-Climate Action Model approved by the Pitzer College Board of Trustees, at an L.A. Press Club press conference. The Press Club’s home office is at the Center. Learn more about it here.

CFI’s president and CEO Ron Lindsay visited CFI–Michigan, where a packed house listened to his talk on secularism as a fundamental requirement for democracy and human rights. It’s the subject of his forthcoming book The Necessity of Secularism, due out later this year.

CFI–Northeast Ohio held a major civic and lobbying day with its Ohio Secular Summit in January, and several participants have shared their experiences of the event with the Humanist Community of Central Ohio. One such civic-minded secularist called it an “empowering experience,” saying, “the presentations reinforced that change starts with a group of like-minded people, organizing and broadcasting their message.”

Nicole Cushing, author of the new novel I Am the New God, visited with CFI–Indiana on April 3 to give a reading from her book and discuss some its themes. She recently posted video of the discussion, which touches on, among other things, the connection between faith and violence.

CFI in the Media

● CFI’s Paul Fidalgo went on HuffPost Live with Jaweed Kaleem, Anila Ali, and Soul Dancer (that’s his real name!) to discuss beliefs about life after death.

● Ross Pomeroy of RealClearScience says pseudoscience should be taught in science classes so it can be better combated and touts the efforts of organizations like our own Committee for Skeptical Inquiry that “constantly battle these forces of nonsense.”

● CFI communications director Paul Fidalgo writes at Friendly Atheist about UK Labour leader Ed Miliband’s admission that he does not believe in God, and compares his openness about his nonbelief with the overt Christianity of David Cameron and Tony Blair.

● Joe Nickell takes aim at “sighing debunkers” who roll their eyes at paranormal believers and subjects they find beneath them. Joe says “skeptical burnout” is common for debunkers as opposed to investigators “who are willing endlessly to seek explanations for mysteries and use them to teach science and the scientific method.”

The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a nonprofit educational, advocacy, and research organization headquartered in Amherst, New York, with executive offices in
Washington, D.C. It is also home to both the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism. The mission of CFI is to foster a
secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. CFI’s web address is www.centerforinquiry.net.